kitchen diary of an amateur vegan cook

Summer Rolls

This recipe is a sort of hodge-podge of a bunch of different recipes I used for inspiration. I still need a good peanut satay dipping sauce for these, though – I tried 3 different recipes and was really unhappy with all of them. Our local favourite Thai place does a delicious sauce, but I haven’t the faintest idea how to replicate it. If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them!

This makes … a bunch of rolls. I’m not sure how many. Enough to feed two people for dinner, with leftovers. You can roll them a bunch of different ways, but ensure you’re using a double layer, either by using two papers stacked or folding one paper in half. They also need to be rolled pretty tight or shit just falls out everywhere.

1 handful of thin rice noodles

Fill a medium pot with water, add a tbsp of salt and bring to the boil. Add the noodles and cook 3 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside to drain completely.

Take a bowl big enough to completely fit a rice paper at its widest point, fill with hot water.

Set up your station: the tofu on a plate, the bowl of noodles, the bowl of other stuff, and a couple of plates lined with dampened paper towels. Lay a clean tea towel out on your counter. Take a rice paper and dip in the hot water for about 5 secs – it’ll still feel stiff but it will loosen up as you work with it. Lay out either two rice papers on top of each other, or fold one in half. Set a couple pieces of tofu on the paper, a spoonful of the salad mix, a pinch of noodles, then attempt to roll it up tightly into a roll (the burrito method works pretty well for this). Repeat till you run out of rice papers or fillings. Serve with a dipping sauce and enjoy.